Does it ever occur to anybody that what we have here are a bunch of chimps with AK47s, figuratively speaking?

Syria's military is nothing to joke about, relative to the rest of the nations in the region. There is a reason for legitimate concern on their part. They do have a rater extensive and advanced air defense system, but that's about it.

Relative to our military however, even with outright backing from Russia, it's not even a contest. The majority of their Air Force consists of MiG 25's which, for frame of reference, were produced toward the end of the Vietnam war, and haven't been in production for about 30 years.

Russia's military has not been able to stand toe-to-toe with the US since 1980 or earlier. Outside of nukes, they haven't been a threat for over a generation.

The only nation in the world that comes even close is China, and even then we way outclass them.